And sometimes it just goes all to crap…

by Tim on August 10, 2010

“I’d piss on a spark plug if I thought it’d do any good!” – General Berringer, “War Games”

Well, as they say, “$h!t happens.” And so it did.

Our most recent in the Developmental Achievements We Could Do Without series was the J-Man’s newly-discovered ability to climb out of his crib. We’ve dreaded this to be honest as one of those points of no return that would mean we’d have to nuke the existing sleep routine we spent months and years building and basically start over. Within the last few days, we did discover that he’s figured out how to climb back in his bed, which is certainly a plus except that he actually has to want to.

Through our own flavor of Spy vs. Spy, we got him to at least stay in his crib by employing technology he doesn’t yet understand in some warped assertion of power by us the alpha parents. Believe it or not, that much is still kinda working. He has been staying in bed recently until he falls asleep.

However, here’s where it hits the fan, or lands under the fan as the case may be.

When last we talked about this tale many months ago, the J-Man was stripping down while still in his bed, which led to all sorts of fun and funky stuff to deal with in the mornings. For months we’ve been winning the battle thanks to our at one time desperate but in hindsight rather genius idea of putting some sort of shirt over his sleeper to stop him from getting out. Even the Great Flexi-Houdini J-Man wasn’t able to figure out how to get out of it. But as often happens, at some point a wasn’t can easily turn into an is.

It was a good run, but it appears that all good things must come to an end. And some of those must fail in a big pile of excrement, particularly one that results from an almost-five-year-old getting nekkid before it’s time to.

And this is often how changes announce themselves in life. Sometimes you get a religious epiphany, a double rainbow, perhaps the Voice from God, and maybe you simply hear that still small voice. And then there are the times you get a bunch of turds in the floor. However it happens, it’s pretty clear that when any of this happens, a wind of change is coming.

I really don’t know how to deal with this except to say “it happens” and try to come up with something before we run out of sheets, his pajamas, laundry soap, Clorox wipes, latex gloves, and bleach. It’s not like we’re flush with cash, the patience to work it out, or the time to sit and ponder it forever. We just weren’t quite prepared to deal with this latest assault.

This really wasn’t the week to have another load of stuff dumped on us. Yeah, none of us really have time for this crap, but what do you do? It’s not like he’s trying to be a butt about it. “All behavior is communication” is a fundamental principle for autism, so we just have to get to the bottom of it. We’ve just run out of ideas in our arsenal.

Maybe we’ll come up with another desperate but astute idea to wipe out this problem, but it always feels like we’re behind wherever he is. Perhaps if we could just crack the code of potty training, this much of it would come to an end. What a relief that would be! I know we have a good track record of ascertaining the solutions eventually, but at the moment, that’s not very assuring. Just feeling kind of bummed about it all. Well, this too shall pass, I suppose.

Sigh. We went through this sh!t from about 2.5 years to nearly 4…knock wood. He still pees and poops on the floor but it’s not like it was when he was in the crib and would smear it everywhere. The carpet/walls/crib/child was so gross every morning. We used those Lysol wipes that had the scrubby on one end. I also put down plastic table clothes to cover the carpet. Wallpapered the wall with cheapy easier to clean stuff.

Things that work for others but not us. Body suit onesie things (from childrens place). Jeans or otherwise buttoned pants backwards over jammies. They have poop smear pants online too.

None of this worked for us. P figured it all out. Putting him in a big boy bed actually did help because he comes into our room and easier to monitor. But also wake up at 3 am most nights.

Dang Erin – he’s wearing a size 6-7 now in sleepers. This would have been PERFECT for us, especially since he’s so hot natured, and these don’t seem to be fleece AND come in short sleeves! We may have to try out a 5T footless just to see though! The thing that would work for us isn’t the zip up the back feature, it’s the non-stretchy neck part, because the J-man just slithers out without unzipping anyway.

@Debby – I think finding crap everywhere just triggers something in me that just freaks me out. I’ve changed about 10,000 diapers in the last five years (give or take) and been shat on more times than I care to count, but this sorta feels like my Rubicon or something. I don’t know. I know most all parents go through some episodes of this, and I know oodles of parents who’ve been through this much more often than us. Maybe it’s taken hold as some sort of barometer in my mind of when things are falling apart around here.

I know! i got it! Saran Wrap and duct tape! Hahah..j/k Actually, they may have something that can help you guys out here: http://www.easyaccessclothing.com/ I hope you found something that works by now! Peace out!